60 City Streets To Be Repaved

May 05, 2000|by MATT ASSAD, The Morning Call

Bethlehem drivers, get used to orange cones and traffic barrels because the city is about to begin paving more than 11 miles of city roads in what will be one of its largest repaving programs in two decades.

Some of the city's most traveled roads, including Main Street and Eaton Avenue, will be resurfaced as part of an $820,000 paving program that will help the city eliminate some of its most troublesome spots.

"It would be easy to put some of this off until we have more money to spend," Mayor Don Cunningham said. "But even at a time when our revenues are flat, the administration and City Council have decided to keep the focus on basic services, like road work."

By October, city crews hope to have used more than 30,000 tons of materials to smooth 60 streets.

Who's counting?

Public Works Director Michael Alkhal is. Every street, every alley and every mile of road has been compiled on a new database designed to prioritize and track the condition of the streets.

The bad news is, the city would have to spend another $2 million this year just to take care of the roads Alkhal thinks are the most deplorable.

To pay for the work, City Council has allocated $520,000 in capital projects money to go along with another $200,000 in liquid fuels money and $100,000 in Community Development Block Grants.

Alkhal said the city might even be able to add a second phase to this year's program if $100,000 to $200,000 in road maintenance and snow-removal money remains unspent.

It is scheduled to be the second-largest paving budget since the early 1970s, trailing only the $900,000 spent in 1998.